This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
(I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)

After news emerged that Michele Bachmann seeks occasional treatment for migraines, most candidates left the issue alone. Now Tim Pawlenty is implying it may limit her ability to serve.

The story of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s struggle with migraine headaches has elicited an outpouring of compassion, especially from other women – regardless of their politics – who face this challenge....

I mean honestly. If the men are going to insist you have health issues in their opinion, maybe all the candidates should be transparent and put their health records in full view of the electorate. It seems rather one sided that the woman in the field is the only one being held up to scrutiny. This is all confidential information anyway, between, patient and physician. At least that is what the GOP always claims is important, the sanctity of the patient - doctor relationship. So, like, what is the openness and hypocrisy about?

If the Republican candidates for President are scared of Rep. Bachmann actually getting the nomination, then they need to debate the issues and put all their cards on the table and let the people decide. Picking on Michele is not only bad sportsmanship it is sexist and underhanded. Everyone know the 'traditional stereotype' of women is one of 'monthly' disabilities to keep them from achieving their goals and job responsibilities. Certainly, Mr. Rove and Mr. Pawlenty are playing the 'monthly card,' now are they?

Michele Bachmann is 'the common sense' candidate. She runs on that premises and she never wavers from it. I have a problem with that 'idea' as governing is more complicated than common sense, but, hey I'm just a voter. I have a problem with the extremism of the Tea Party, Rep. Bachmann's chosen affiliation. Their views are under informed and too harsh. But, it was the RNC that brought the 'average' person into the party to water down the image of 'the country club' candidate. Now, it is inconvenient for the RNC to bring in these people as potential candidates other than House and Senate where they have to sign pledges!

The 'headache' issue is sexist. Plain and simple. I suggest the GOP get on with the task of nominating and getting on record for the issues. That is straight forward and no one should be victimized for pursuing that path.

Wall Street cares nothing about morality, crime or anticipated outcomes except where it 'makes money.' To Wall Street, the Murdochs demonstrated yesterday they were able to contain the scandal and contain the damage. That is all they care about. They don't care about whether there was "W"rong doing or anything else, they care about whether or not News Corp is going to continue to make money.

In that reality of Wall Street. and it is their reality, their focus and their goals lies the profound reality they are criminals before valuable entities of society and the Supreme Court gave them citizen rights? I don't think so.

See, the British Panel yesterday was interested in understanding that there was damage control in a corporate environment that LAUNDERED their testimony for protectionism. As one of the panel members tried to have the Murdochs undertand, there was a 'collective blindness,' common thread and a 'group think' that authorities found was unhelpful to investigation. THAT is criminality in case no one recognizes it and it is applauded by Wall Street in returns of the value of market shares.

...Instead of finding (click title to entry - thank you) a signal that this was the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch'’s run at the helm of his company, analysts stressed that there was no single revelatory moment during the proceedings. If the Murdochs seemed at times distant, even oblivious, to what was going on in their own company, there were no obvious admissions of wrongdoing or glaring contradictions in their testimony, analysts said.

“This was the best day these guys have had in a really long time,” said David Bank, media analyst for RBC Capital Markets. “No shoe dropped, no smoking gun was found, it all sort of sounded kind of contained.”

After losing billions of dollars in market value, the News Corporation’s stock recovered a significant chunk of its value on the Nasdaq, rising almost 6 percent during the day to close at $16.25 a share. And after Mr. Murdoch and his son James concluded two hours of often tense testimony to a House of Commons committee, there was little of the widespread scorn that has greeted almost everything the Murdochs have said and done in the more than two weeks since the most recent voice mail hacking scandal at News Corporation’s British newspaper operation erupted….

Does Wall Street understand the definition of COLLUSION? If they do, then they don't care and/or hope to have laws changed to benefit them rather than actually have laws that uphold the integrity of society.

By Alan Cowell

Published: July 20, 2011

…accused the Murdoch empire of “deliberate attempts” to thwart its investigations.

…The report was issued on Wednesday just hours before Prime Minister David Cameron to address a special session of Parliament after returning home early from an African trade tour to face new questions about his relationships with former senior figures at News International, the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s global News Corporation….

Up next Prime Minister David Cameron. He should not take comfort in the testimonies that occurred yesterday.

Milly Dowler is somebody. If it has to be put into 'economic' terms and 'terms of greed,' then Milly Dowler is the future Prime Minister of Great Britain that would have turned the corner on every demand of Wall Street and now she is gone.

Whether the phone hacking endangered the search by police or not is now as debatable as ever. But, one thing is for sure. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp compromised the evidence the police were examining and it probably effected the 'tone' of the investigation and the methods they were pursuing while they believed the girl was still alive and potentially able to reach them or her family. Being alive means she could have been playing games or otherwise. The hacking compromised the process and potentially compromised the outcome for Milly Dowler and her family.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp puts themselves above the law and self righteously so. They believe they can answer the public's need for answers and portrays the government as incompetent when it ii they that are.

(Djamila Grossman | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland and Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, listen to David Aguilar, the Deputy Commissioner of U. S. Customs and Border Protection, during a hearing on homeland security at the National Governors Association annual conference at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, July 16, 2011.

Utah's model for Guest Workers should be in the spotlight, not under the microscope.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer defended that state’s tough immigration law Saturday, saying she thinks it is preferable to the course that Utah took and insisting the state has not suffered an economic backlash from its passage.

“I am very, very supportive and believe Senate Bill 1070 is the right way to go and believe eventually it will be held up as the law,” Brewer said.

Fearing the fallout that Arizona suffered after passing its tough immigration bill, Utah lawmakers opted for a less stringent enforcement bill and included a first-of-its-kind state-based guest-worker bill….

What occurred in Utah were vigilantes took the law into their own hands and victimized vulnerable people with the desired weight of the Utah and Federal government. That is hideous.

The 29 page printout includes the names of 1300Utahresidents ofLatinodescent with their addresses, phone numbers, workplaces and in some casessocial securitynumbers.

Utah officials said that they have identified at least two state workers who accessed confidential documents that may have been used to create the list. The workers were from the Department of Workforce Services.

A group called Concerned Citizens of the United States mailed the list this week to media outlets and law enforcement agencies demanding the immediatedeportationof those named.

"Some of the women on the list are pregnant," the cover letter warned. "And steps should be taken for immediate deportation."

In the letter, the group writes that they "observe these individuals in our neighborhoods, driving on our streets, working in our stores, attending our schools and entering our public welfare buildings."

By Devin Dwyer

Utah could become the first state in the nation with its own guest worker program that would grant permits to undoumented immigrants and allow them to continue living and working in the state legally.

The measure passed the Republican-controlled state legislature late Friday as part of a bipartisan deal that also includes an enforement law, requiring police to check the immigration status of suspects in felony or serious misdemeanor cases.

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert praised lawmakers for crafting a so-called "Utah solution" to the state's illegal immigraiton problembut has not said whether he will sign the bills.

The federal government would need to grant a waiver to allow Utah to permit immigrant workers who would otherwise not be legally present in the United States. Such a waiver would be unprecedented, and it's unclear whether a mechanism exists for the state to request one.

Still, passage of the legislation -- in a red state, in a part of the country most affected by illegal immigration -- is significant….

The French yacht Dignite-Al Karama, a flotilla remnant, entered the Israeli port of Ashdod flanked by three small Israeli naval vessels yesterday, after being intercepted off the Gaza coast. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM - Israeli naval forces boarded a French yacht off the Gaza coast yesterday as the yacht tried to breach the Israeli maritime blockade of the Palestinian enclave. The forces met no resistance, Israeli military officials

said, and steered the yacht toward the Israeli port of Ashdod….

Activists after commando units took over the ship, July 19, 2011.

Photo by: IDF spokesperson

Sailing on a bucket, surrounded by commandos (click title to entry -thank you)

Haaretz writer returns to Israel after 26 days with Gaza-bound pro-Palestinian activists.ByAmira HassThree missile ships and seven commando boats were sent to take over the tub known as the Dignite Al Karame yesterday, about 50 nautical miles from the shore.At least 150 soldiers were sent to sea early in the morning to prevent the 10 civilian activists, the three crew members and the three journalists on the "freedom flotilla" from reaching Gaza's port….

The Gaza Blockage activists have achieved their goal. They made the Israeli government pay attention to the humanitarian plight of the people in Gaza. The Israeli government also had to examine their intervention that caused tragedy last year and change their approach to insure a good outcome for everyone. There are still questions of sabotage with a ship from Ireland (Which Ireland's people commonly seek to bring relief to others.) that is in question, but, so far the changes that have come to bear by successfully bringing attention to the people of Gaza by the Flotilla and its organizers are successful.

Israel is always interested in 'doing the right thing.' It is sometimes their methods that have to be refined through its own scrutiny which is a stumbling block to its government.

I congratulate the Gaza Flotilla and the Israeli government for successful events, both have been necessary.

Foreclosure of a home is incredible personal devastation. This should never be an issue to any service member or their family. It is a distraction and in a war zone no soldier can afford a distraction. I find these actions completely outrageous and a threat to our national sovereignty.

BEND, Ore. -- Bend resident Tim Collette is losing the home he's shared with his son to foreclosure. Aaron, who is fighting in Iraq, comes home on leave August 19th, only 10 days after his father will lose his home. And now Aaron's father is asking his bank to delay the move -- with many on his side.

The story continues to get coverage all across the country. Now, over 100,000 people have signed an online petition asking the bank to stop the scheduled foreclosure.

All Tim Collette wants is a home for his son to come back to.

Since 2006, Aaron Colette and his father Tim have had a place to call home. Now that home on NE Boyd Court is going into foreclosure….

There is a new Consumer Protection Agency in Washington, DC that can actually do something about this. It can enforce existing laws, it can recommend new laws to the President and it can balance the assault on the American Dream. I strongly suggest the President's nominee to that position be approved on a 'Fast Track" through Congress. The USA economy needs it, the morale of the people need it and the USA military needs it.

Enough already!

A new organization has emerged as a beacon of home for citizens with foreclosure problems.

While the nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau came with little fanfare, the process of actually installing President Obama's pick will indubitably be loud and contentious. At the heart of the CFPB strife is the most basic of partisan fights, a debate over which is less trustworthy: big government or big business. Even in an election cycle dominated by unemployment and the debt ceiling, the bureau may become yet one more way for Republican candidates to prove their conservative credentials....

As far as Rupert Murdoch and his 'idea' that Great Britain, the US and Australia is better for their variety of newspapers, his effectiveness has outlived its purpose.

The News Corp 'model' might work for a society entrenched in obstructive government, but, in sincere democracies it assaults its very foundation.

A few items are important as well, the housing foreclosure topic needs immediate attention, the Gaza Flotilla has been safety interrupted by Israel and the recent Governor's conference has highlighted a new Utah Guest Workers Program meeting with approval, except, for ? Arizona ? again?